"Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their
windows?"--_Isaiah 60:8._
But now occurred the strangest phase of this wondrously strange story.
In November, 1862, four hundred defeated Indian warriors, many of them
leaders of their people, were confined in prison-pens at Mankato,
Minnesota. While free on the prairies, these wild warriors had bitterly
hated the missionaries with all the intensity of their savage natures.
They had vigorously opposed every effort of the missionaries in their
behalf. They had scornfully rejected the invitations of the Gospel. But
now in their claims, they earnestly desired to hear the glad tidings
they had formerly scorned. They sent for the missionaries to visit them
in prison and the missionaries responded with eager joy. And the Holy
Spirit accompanied them. Thirty-eight of the prisoners were under the
death-sentence and were executed in December.
"I remember," said Dr. Williamson, "feeling a great desire to preach to
them, mingled with a kind of terror partly from a sense of grave
responsibility in speaking to so many whose probation was so nearly
closed, and partly from a sense of fear of hearing them say to me "Go
home; when we were free we would not hear you preach to us; why do you
come here to torment us when we are in chains and cannot go away." It
was a great relief to find them listening intently to all I had to
say."
The prisoners were supplied with Bibles and other books, and for a
time, the prison became a school. They were all eager to learn. The
more their minds were directed to God and His Word, the more they
became interested in secular studies.
Very soon the Indians of their own accord began holding meetings every
morning and evening in which they sang and spoke and prayed. In a short
time, there were ninety converts that would lead in public prayer. Of
those who were executed, thirty were baptized. Standing in a foot of
snow, manacled two and two, they frequently gathered to sing and pray
and listen to the words of eternal life. Of this work, the Rev. Gideon
H. Pond wrote at the time; "There is a degree of religious interest
manifested by them, which is incredible. They huddle themselves
together every morning and evening, read the scriptures, sing hymns,
confess one to another and pray together. They declare they have left
their superstitions forever, and that they do and will embrace the
religion of Jesus."
In March, Mr. Pond visited Mankato again and spent two Sabbaths with
the men in prison, establishing them in their new faith. Before his
departure, he administered the Lord's supper, to these new converts.
And again the Mankato prison-pens witnessed a strange and wondrous
scene. Three hundred embittered, defeated Indian warriors, manacled,
fettered with balls and chains,--but clothed and in their right
minds,--were sitting in groups upon the wintry grounds reverently
observing the Lord's supper. Elders Robert Hopkins, Peter Big-Fire and
David Grey Cloud officiated with reverence and dignity. The whole
movement was marvelous! It was like a "nation born in a day." And after
many years of severe testing, all who know the facts, testify that it
was a genuine work of God's Holy Spirit. The massacre and the
subsequent events destroyed the power of the Priests of Devils, which
had previously ruled and ruined these wretches' tribes. They
themselves, exploded the dynamite under the throne of Paganism and
shattered it to fragments forever.
In 1863, these Indians were transferred to Davenport, Iowa, where they
were confined in prison for three years. In 1866 they were released by
the government and returned to their native prairies, where they then
became the nuclei of other churches, other Sabbath schools and other
church organizations; and so these formerly savage Sioux became a
benediction rather than a terror to their neighbors on the plains of
the Dakotas. The church of the prison-pen became the prolific mother of
churches.
While these events were transpiring in the prison-pen at Mankato, a
similar work of grace was also in progress in the prison camp at Fort
Snelling, where fifteen hundred men, women and children, mainly the
families of the Mankato prisoners, were confined under guard. The
conditions, in both places, were very similar. In the camp as well as
in the prison, they were in grave troubles and great anxieties. In
their distresses they called mightily upon the Lord. Here John, the
Beloved (John P. Williamson D.D.) ministered to their temporal and
spiritual wants. The Lord heard and answered their burning and
agonizing cries. By gradual steps, but with overwhelming power came the
heavenly visitation. Many were convicted; confessions and professions
were made; idols reverenced for many generations were thrown away by
the score. More than one hundred and twenty were baptized and organized
into a Presbyterian church, which, after years of bitter wandering, was
united with the church of the Prison Pen and formed the large
congregation of the Pilgrim church.
Thus all that winter long, '62-3, there was in progress within the rude
walls of those terrible prison-pens at Mankato, one of the most
wonderful revivals since the day of Pentecost. And in February, '63,
Dr. Williamson and Rev. Gideon H. Pond spent a week in special services
amongst them.
The most careful examinations possible were made into their individual
spiritual condition and the most faithful instruction given them as to
their Christian duties; then those Indian warriors were all baptized,
received into the communion of the church and organized into a
Presbyterian church within the walls of the stockade; _three hundred
in a day_! Truly impressive was
THE BAPTISMAL SCENE.
The conditions of baptism were made very plain to the prisoners and it
was offered to only such as were willing to comply fully with those
conditions. All were forbidden to receive the rite, who did not do it
heartily to the God of Heaven, whose eye penetrated each of their
hearts. All, by an apparently hearty response, indicated their desire
to receive the rite on the proffered conditions. As soon as the
arrangements were completed, they came forward one by one, as their
names were called and were baptized into the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, while each subject stood with the right hand raised
and head bowed and many of them with their eyes closed with an
appearance of profound reverence. As each came forward to be baptized
one of the ministers addressed to him in a low voice a few appropriate
words. This was the substance of these personal addresses. "My brother,
this is a mark of God, which is placed upon you. You will carry it with
you while you live. It introduces you into the great family of God who
looks down from heaven, not upon your head but into your heart. This
ends your superstition, and from this time you are to call God your
Father. Remember to honor Him. Be resolved to do His will." Each one
responded heartily, "Yes, I will."
Gideon H. Pond then addressed them collectively.
"Hitherto I have addressed you as friends; now I call you brethren. For
years we have contended together on this subject of religion; now our
contentions cease. We have one Father, we are one family. I shall soon
leave you and shall probably see your faces no more in this world. Your
adherence to the medicine sack and the Natawe (consecrated war weapons)
have brought you to your ruin. The Lord Jesus Christ can save you. Seek
him with all your heart. He looks not upon your heads nor on your lips
but into your bosoms. Brothers, I will make use of a term of brotherly
salutation, to which you have been accustomed to your medicine dances
and say to you: "'Brethren I spread my hands over you and bless you.'""
Three hundred voices responded heartily, "'Amen, yea and Amen.'"